Out-of-state Houston owners: what SB 38 changed about your eviction timeline

Houston, Texas
General Real Estate Investing
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Out-of-state Houston owners: what SB 38 changed about your eviction timeline

Charos Peña
Real Estate Agent · Houston, TX · Member since 2026 · 44 posts · 7 votes

If you own a Houston rental from out of state, Texas eviction rules changed for cases filed since January 1, 2026 (SB 38). What belongs in your lease and your underwriting:

1) Trials must be held within 21 days of filing, in JP and county court. An appeal to county court must be heard within 21 days after the transcript and papers arrive.

2) The constable has 5 business days to serve the citation, and 5 business days to serve the writ once it issues.

3) First-time nonpayment now calls for a notice to pay rent or vacate, not a plain notice to vacate. Repeat nonpayment can use either.

4) Email or other electronic notice only counts if it was agreed to in writing. If your lease doesn't say so, your PM needs another delivery method.

A tenant who appeals has to keep paying the lease rent.

What it doesn't fix: properties covered by the federal 30-day notice rule (CARES Act) still have that clock, so check your loan and any subsidy before you count on the faster timeline.

If you're looking at a specific Houston property, drop the zip and price below and I'll tell you what the taxes and flood history look like.

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  • Lauren CutchenBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · The Woodlands, TX · Member since 2019 · 236 posts · 88 votes
    1w

    Good summary. The one I'd flag for out-of-state owners is the electronic notice piece. A lot of older Texas leases don't have that written consent, so it's worth pulling your lease out now instead of finding out mid-eviction. I'd also have your PM confirm how your local JP court is actually handling the new timelines.

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  • Charos Peña
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Houston, TX · Member since 2026 · 44 posts · 7 votes
    1w

    Lauren, thanks. Pulling the lease is the right call. One nuance from the TAA summary of the new law: electronic notice works when the parties agreed in writing, and if the tenant actually receives the notice, the delivery method rules don't apply. I still wouldn't plan around that, because proving receipt turns into its own argument.

    You're right about the JP courts too. Harris County has 16 of them, and Texas Housers' 2023 data showed average eviction dockets from 9 cases to 83 depending on the court. That's before SB 38, so I wouldn't assume the old pace still holds.

    What I'd ask a PM:

    1) Which precinct is my property in?

    2) From filing to writ, how long did your last 3 cases in that court take?

    Have you seen a Montgomery County JP actually hold to 21 days yet?

    If you're looking at a specific Houston property, drop the zip and price below and I'll tell you what the taxes and flood history look like.

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  • Cameron Tope
    Property Manager · Katy, TX · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5d

    Charos,

    @Lauren Cutchen makes great points!


    We've also seen some JP judges decide not allow the electronic delivery yet so I would stay on the safe side for now.

    As far as how much time is saved, I just wrote about this to our owners.

    In 2025, our evictions averaged 27 days and 2026 that dropped to 22 days.

    So only 5 day savings, but I'll take any improvement we can get, no matter how small!

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  • Charos Peña
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Houston, TX · Member since 2026 · 44 posts · 7 votes
    3d

    Cameron, thanks for putting real numbers on it. That's the data out-of-state owners actually need.

    1) 27 to 22 days is 5 days. At Houston's September median single-family rent of $2,150 (HAR), that's roughly $360 of rent per eviction an owner stops losing, before court and attorney costs.

    2) Good flag on electronic delivery. Until a JP precinct says it accepts it, I'd tell owners to budget the old timeline, not the new one.

    3) The bigger lever is still the front end: days from the first missed rent to the notice going out. If that slips a week, it wipes out the whole SB 38 gain.

    Which Harris or Fort Bend precincts are you seeing hold out on electronic delivery?

    Owners reading this: drop your zip and rent below and I'll tell you what a month of vacancy plus an eviction really costs there.

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